Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 51 on 07 May 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMIMUHURUMUHUHUH OM SHANNOMITRASHYAM VARUNAH SHANNO BHAVATVARIYAMAH SHANNAYINDRO BRIHASPATHE SHANNO VISHNURUKRAMAH NAMO BRAMHANE NAMASTEVAYO TVAMEVA PRATYAKSHAM BRAMHASE TVAMEVA PRATYAKSHAM BRAMHAVADISHYAMI RITAM VADISHYAMI SATYAM VADISHYAMI TANMAM AVATO TAD VAKTARAM AVATO AVATO MAM AVATO VAKTARAM OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HARI OM OM May Mitra be blissful to us. May Varuna be blissful to us. May Ariyamma be blissful to us. May Indra and Brihaspati be blissful to us. May Vishnu of long strides be blissful to us. Salutations to Brahman. Salutations to you, O Vayu. You indeed are the visible Brahman. You alone I shall call the direct Brahman. I shall call you righteousness. I shall call you truth. May Brahman protect me. May Brahman protect the teacher. May Brahman protect me. May Brahman protect the teacher. Om. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all. So in our last class, we completed the first chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad called Sikshavalli and as we know it has 12 Anuvakas or sections and the whole Sikshavalli is only to prepare the struggling aspirant so that he can become a fit recipient to receive a knowledge of Brahman. For that purpose, first a person had to study the Vedas. Studying the Vedas, we have to remember in those days there were no written books. The knowledge used to be passed from person to person through the process of hearing but our Rishis were so particular that they had invented a very particular style so that even one syllable should not be lost, cannot be lost. So they used to teach how to pronounce each syllable properly. For that purpose, as we know, like in music, we have got 7 notes and some notes have got variations like Komala and Thevara. For example, Sa, Re. Re has two and similarly Ma has two. Dha has two and the last but one, Ni has also two variations. Komala and Thevara including the third Swara called Ga. Like that Udata, Anudata, Samana or Sarita, these are the aids for proper pronunciation and then they used to pass that knowledge and in those days students were not cluttered with lots of distracting things and therefore they had the purity, capacity to keep to memory, memorize the whole lot and they used to teach to their students or disciples or children etc. And slowly so many Upasanas, that is contemplations, how a small, an ordinary thing can be converted through pure contemplation into the highest thing. Simple example, a Saligrama substitutes the idea of Bhagavan Vishnu. Even though it is a common stone, even Shiva Linga brings to our notice that idea of the highest reality called Saguna Brahma. Of course, nothing can really represent Nirguna Brahma. Remember, all Upasanas are only belonging to the Saguna Brahma. So when M asks Sairam Krishna, even after a long time of hearing Sairam Krishna's teachings, can we not meditate on a formless aspect of God, Sairam Krishna says it is very difficult. Even what M called the formless aspect of Brahman is also an idea in our minds and whatever comes out of our mind is limited because the instrument called mind itself is limited by three things, time, space and object, that is Kaala, Desha, Vastu, Parichcheda, about which we will discuss shortly. So really speaking, how can one reach the highest called Nirguna Brahma? Not by contemplation, but by denying what I am contemplating is not that highest reality. Na iti, na iti, neti neti, even that instrument which helps us to negate everything, that instrument itself has to be completely discarded in the end and that can be done not by us, but by the divine grace and when we reach such a state, the divine grace is sure to come. So now in this second chapter and this chapter has got 10 sections, 10 Anuvakas, Desha Anuvakaha, so here in the very beginning itself, the highest truth has been enumerated, that is why it is called Sarva Upanishad Sara Sangrahaha, it is the very essence of every Upanishad and what is that, that is called Brahman. So first of all, I am going to teach you, the Rishi must have been, the teacher must have been telling to the either disciple or disciples and then first define what is Brahman. So secondly, what is the benefit of realizing Brahman? Thirdly, how to reach or realize that Brahman? So this is the subject matter and even in this very first one, the teacher wants to tell us very very interesting way of what is called, first of all he tells, soon after he defines what happens when a man realizes Brahman and what is the nature of Brahman and then the rest is elaboration, how to reach Brahman again through various contemplations. So Srishti Krama comes very soon about it and Shankaracharya taking the definition of the Rig Veda mantra here, he gives the most elaborate commentary that what is called Brahman, Satyam Gnanam Anantam Brahma, this is the definition. We will come very soon to that point, what it really means. Such a fantastic commentary, I think nobody comes across very easily and we have to be very grateful to Shankaracharya for helping us to understand what is this Brahman. So this is what we are going to deal with it. First of all, we always look whenever we start any activity, we always look for that what are we going to get out of this. So if I study what would be my benefit and rarely what would be the benefit for other people. So even the slightest desire, take a simple example, a man is hungry and he wants to eat food and thereafter he has to do some activity, how to get the food either readymade or he has to cook and then he has to prepare himself and he has to serve himself, then he has to eat himself, so much activity. But the activity is instigated only by the desire and a desire always means nobody says I want to be unhappy, I want to be suffering, so happily I will do these activities so which can land me in trouble. Always the purpose is if I do this, I hope to get some positive benefit which is happiness and as I mentioned umpteen number of times, if I want to be happy, two conditions simultaneously need to be fulfilled. I have to be alive which is called Sat and I have to be aware that I am happy. That is why Sat and Ananda is sandwiched, these two sandwiches, the middle one that is called consciousness. I am conscious, I am alive and I am conscious that I am happy. Without this consciousness nothing will really work. So this is the essence of it and we will enter into this second chapter called Taittiriya Upanishad and as I mentioned it is called Upanishad Sara Sangrahaha, that is Upanishads, all the highest teachings about unknown things, Brahman, Swargaloka, Narakaloka, Karmaphala etc. and this second chapter is called Sara, essence but not only Sara, somebody can take a long time even to summarize but summary of the summaries, Sangrahaha, very briefly and really very brief, so brief even though it is not a sutra as we know Brahma Sutras and we have to be aware what is a sutra, is a mnemonic. Mnemonic means just remembering a small something, the whole thread will have to come and we use it unconsciously all the time. You sit in the car and then you just turn the key in the car then you will see immediately the car starts and you start driving but behind that turning the key the whole engine has been beautifully serviced, primed and then only everything will work and this turning the key is only just a short queue. Similarly, our password, any password and the whole file will open, so this is called Sutra. So the teacher must have taught, how long? We don't know, maybe years, many years, maybe lifelong, maybe for few days but there were no recorders in those days, so the students have to memorize, probably the Rishi himself had invented. So simple example, Atha Yoga Anushasanam, this is called Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Atha, now Yoga Anushasanam, instructions, teaching about what is Yoga. Atha, what is the meaning of Atha? So any Tom, Dick and Harry passing by a street, so I would like to attend this class, that will not do. The person must have completed the master's degree and then only he will be qualified to specialize in something under a qualified teacher. So Atha means once a person becomes qualified which means the teaching will be fruitful, will be understood first of all, then the student will be able to mull over it, think deeply until all doubts are completely cleared either by himself or if he has still doubts, he will clarify it from his teacher and then only once he knows this is a worthy cause, then he will go about transforming his own life, trying to reach that goal. In fact, every activity is a transformation of our life only albeit unconsciously. Simple example, you open your eyes and say I want to drink water, thus desire comes. When does this desire come? Only when a person is completely thirsty and when does this thirst really occur? A person must have been working very hard and many hours have passed, he did not drink water, then he feels the lack of water, then he has a desire, very natural automatic desire will be there. A person desires to eat food immediate behind if you really analyze, there is a lot of activity had gone before and the person really feels less energy because he has depleted God-given energy after the last food. So this background knowledge is necessary and all that background knowledge has been embedded in these two words Shravana and Manana, then only Nidhidhyasana comes. What is Nidhidhyasana? I must be free from this desire of for example thirst or hunger etc. Then only a person will be able to really live as if new life. A person is tired, I want to have rest. Why does he want to have rest? Because whole day he has been working very hard, he becomes tired even though he has eaten food, he has taken water but the tiredness has to be removed but the tiredness comes only after long time of work that is applicable whether it is worldly activity or spiritual activity. When a person works very hard in this samsara for how long? According to Hindu belief 84 lakhs of janmas and then he understands I have been chasing shadows so now I must try a new method because I have tried all the old methods in the wrong place and so I have to search in a new place. What is that new place? Where I have never searched before and what is that place? There is a beautiful short story about Mulla Nasruddin and some of the stories were invented most likely some of them were invented by Idris Shah. This Mulla Nasruddin he was living in a village. One day early morning he was furiously searching for something in the street and villagers found him. Mulla what are you doing? Oh I lost my needle and I am searching for it here. Oh where did you lose it? Oh I lost it in my home, at my home last night. But why are you searching here? My house is still dark, I can't see anything but here I can see crystal clearly therefore I am searching here. For searching light is necessary and that is the story. What is the wisdom that we squeeze out of this story? So we are like people we have lost what we are really searching for we have lost at home but where are we searching? Outside. So we have been searching for what we really need and have lost it. Where? Outside. So after long search the person suddenly remembers hey this is not the place where I lost it. I have lost it at home in that particular room so I must go and search in that particular room and that is what he does but he requires light and this is the story which gives us that moral. Where is that house? Or as we have seen in the Chandogya Upanishad also so this body itself is the Brahmapuram. There is a Dharakasha but it is all inside not what we were doing. We want to be immortal, we want to be Sarvajna, all-knowing and we want to be all the time happy. Where did we lose it? So what does it mean losing? We have it but we have lost it. We are already divine. Each soul is potentially divine because if we did not have it however much we search we are not going to get it. That's why Swamiji's words are so profound, so meaningful. We are divine and we have forgotten about it and we also have forgotten that it is inside and it is our nature and we are searching outside where our nature is not there. Other natures we are seeing, objects we are seeing, external world we are seeing. So a wise man comes and says search where you have kept it before and then he turns into an attentive student and then then he closes his eyes completely to the outside world, turns all his powers, all his knowledge, all the light he has got which is Upasana Nishitam Sharam. His mind like in Mandaka Upanishad we have seen like an arrow sharpened by sharpening it on the edges stone like that Upasana Nishitam which has been sharpened by contemplations. In this case we have seen it in the first chapter Now he is ready. So there in the Mandaka Upanishad we get the analogy of a bow, an arrow and So like a well-trained archer when he discharges it smack lands in the middle of the target and almost becomes embedded in the target and becomes one with the target like that with his mind he should and he is already ready so he discharges himself Atmanam and then Omkara is the bow through which we have to do Pranava our purified mind that is called the arrow with the help of the Omkara then we contemplate that is called discharging the arrow and slowly slowly the arrow travels and becomes completely one with the target like this arrow it embeds itself into the target difficult to take it out but here it means it becomes complete one mind with Brahman Aham Brahmasmi the teacher can only help us so all the Upanishads they teach the same thing but we explore because these ideas have to go deep within us so study of every Upanishad doesn't mean we are getting new teachings but it means the same teachings become more and more meaningful clarified and because our mind is restless we get tired of repetition of the same old words so we have to accept find out new new words so that is how the different Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna or the teachings of any great soul even Jesus Christ's sermon on the mount for example or Buddha's eightfold way all these are different paths suitable for likable by different people they give different names but exactly meaning is the same so that is why it is said Upanishad Sara Sangraha with this background we will go into the this first mantra itself is a big mantra and it is divided into three parts first part gives us complete knowledge about Brahman and the second part gives us Srishti Krama and the third part it brings us that every Jivatma is imagined to be like a bird the imagery of a bird so you take any bird there is the head of the bird two wings of the bird and the tail of the bird and here we get what we call the explanation detailed explanation of the Pancha Kosha Vivarana five Koshas it is the same thing like three bodies Sthola, Sukshma, Karana, Sharira that is one model and this model is same thing subdivided into the Sthola Sharira is equated to Annamaya Kosha and the Karana Sharira is equated to Anandamaya Kosha and in between three Prana, Manaha and Vijnanamaya Koshas are equated with or equal to the middle one Sukshma Sharira so very beautiful explanation comes these are the three parts but the first part is most important because that tells us who we are even though directly it is not said you are Brahman but it is a Mahavakya that means the Upanishad is telling out of compassion that you are that Brahman but because of some factor called Agnana, Maya, Avidya etc you have really forgotten your true nature you are like a madcap you forgot who you are but you are under the treatment of an expert psychiatrist and he will very soon convince you that you are not what you think you are but in reality you are none other than Brahman and when a patient is ready and we are all patients only so then he will tell you I have described my child to you all the characteristics of Brahman and you see I explained you have all the characteristics of Brahman therefore thou art that you are that Brahman and thereafter that is only Shravana then lot of doubt will come doubt because it's a war my experience through Janma Janma Antara are different at the same time the teacher comes the scripture comes tells us complete opposite to truth you are not a Jivatma you are Paramatma every fiber of our body struggles fights against this unbelievable so-called unbelievable truth but go on repeating it that is the merit of repetition mantra nam jyamita nasti like Sri Ramakrishna says that a long-term disease chronic disease takes a long time also to get rid of it but slowly slowly slowly so first maybe I'm wrong then maybe the scripture is right so slowly the doubts give way to faith Shraddha will enter into the person like the father of Najiketa though he was claiming I want to go to heaven but he was not obeying the rules of heaven it's just like a patient going to a doctor and doctor diagnoses his problem and prescribes both medicine and diet and exercise this person he pays his fee but he is tardy is neglecting so he might take medicine but he might not might not observe the dietary conditions he might not be doing the exercises etc everything is a commandment there is no choice you have the choice of not for to not to follow it but who will pay the price you are going to pay the price so it will take long time that fight with what we know we experience and what the teacher has told what the scripture has to tell that is called the process of manana but we have faith in the teacher and slowly even though we do not understand what the teacher is trying to convey to us but slowly slowly the person turns inward and as he progresses as Ramakrishna says as you move towards nearer to the east the west recedes further away from you so this is our case also that is why sometimes doubts will come oh we are hearing the same truth again and again and and the swami also tells the same things so Ramakrishna tells the same thing every teacher tells the same thing so it is a kind of ashraddha no this is the truth and this is this alone is worthy of hearing listening not worldly news etc because whatever we hear that will have tremendous influence and for good or bad even worldly news also can impart highest wisdom to us if we have put on the right specs for example every day billions of people are dying and many of them violently whether in the animal world plant kingdom do you know that how many wars are taking place even in the plant kingdom not to speak of every single animal kingdom and what to speak of human kingdom everywhere this conflict is there in so-called satya yuga ramaravana or treta yuga ramaravana and dwapara yuga pandavas and kauravas now first world war second world war in fact third world war is going on though people dare not call it third world war who knows when it is going to turn even more violent so we have to learn our lesson in this world nothing is certain ahanyahanibhutani gacchanti yamamandiram seshaha sthavaramichchanti kimaschariyam atah paramam so with this background the student is ready because we take it for granted he has done so many upasanas and then the second chapter comes and this second chapter has got three names it can be called ananda valli valli means the name of a valli means a chapter seksha valli chapter called seksha ananda valli chapter called the explanation of ananda or it can be called brahmananda valli because it is not ordinary happiness it is brahmanandam brahmanandam paramasubhadam kevalam jnanamurthyam dvandvatitam we meditate upon the guru like that so this is brahmananda valli or because the teaching emphasizes on the knowledge of brahman it is also called brahma valli so ananda valli brahma valli or combine both and say brahmananda and as i mentioned it has 10 sections are there and every section is very great help for us to move forward in spiritual life whether we are studying these great upanishads or bhagavad gita or the gospel of say ramakrishna the path is the same whether a hindu christian they say these are the separate paths what do you mean by separate path they are not separate paths they are separate symbols that's all while hindus take god as rama krishna or shiva or kali durga parvati the christians take jesus christ or the muslims they take allah and the buddhists take buddha or they call they don't call him god but for all practical purposes he was god only so we have faith in buddha and we have faith in his teachings called buddhism we have faith in christ therefore christianity but the path is exactly the same the differences is not in the paths but in certain names so japa is the same meditation is the same so trying to acquire qualities like unselfishness equal thou shall to love thy neighbor as thyself or you so i hope i'm making the thing clear to you those so many times we get this translations in english paths are different the end is the same but what do we mean by path path doesn't mean path is not paths are not different but the name of god and certain qualities we have to develop and certain forms we meditate upon certain types of worship we do everything different names we give but the process is exactly the same so if somebody is traveling towards mount everest from four directions from any direction but as they progress it is not that the path is different because as he progresses his vision becomes larger and larger and he is able to look upon what is left behind in a completely new light so paths are not different what is it give up false notion about one's own self acquire right notion about one's own self that is the transformation we have to so that giving up false notion whether through puja japa or austerity or service to the society through karma yoga bhakti yoga jnana yoga raja yoga that is they are not different paths but different ways of giving up what is false and acquiring what is absolute truth that is why sir ram krishna says whatever a person's belief that becomes a right path for him as i defined please keep this in mind karma yoga is not different as a path bhakti yoga is not different raja yoga is not different and jnana yoga is not different paths again i have to clarify it lest you may misunderstand it so in karma yoga a person he focuses upon activity but what type of activity i am serving god in bhakti yoga i am worshipping god in raja yoga i am concentrating upon god and in jnana yoga i am trying to identify myself with god looks different but not different give up your old identity i am so and so acquire a new identity i belong to god etc so what is the purpose what does karma yoga do it brings us the grace of god so also other yogas so an important point very important point at least i believe sir ram krishna 1000 he says nobody can realize god unless god bestows his grace sarva dharma parityajya mam ekam sharanam raja ultimately you pray earnestly lord i tried i cannot reach you but you can reach me you i cannot remove my ignorance because strangely what happens is i am trying to remove all the thorns with the help of the another thorn only all ajnana is to be removed only through ajnana and we call that trying to remove the process of trying to remove ajnana is what we call jnana is not real jnana until we know we are one with god it is all ajnana anatma only but it helps us to move forward like a person traveling in a long tunnel and at first nothing is seen after a long time a faint light starts to come but only when the person is completely out of the tunnel does he get the complete light like that until we become one with god everything is agnanam only but that which helps to destroy this agnanam that is called jnana that is not real jnana or you can say it is real jnana so the point is sriram krishna says that every effort is to know how useless our effort is so once we come to know my effort is completely useless so to know that my efforts are useless that is the real purpose to understand 100 percent that my efforts are useless for that we have to exert all our strength etc only then we understand this is not going to take me anywhere and then complete surrender automatically comes then we depend solely upon god and of course god is waiting for that moment this is called complete kripa the grace of god and this is what sriram krishna tells unfurl your sails unfurling the sails is not bringing about the breeze unfurling the sails helps us to use that grace and when the breeze starts blowing completely then we can sit back and enjoy ultimately that is the message whether we are practicing jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga or karma yoga okay this background let us just enter into this first section of the second chapter the following mantra which is a rig mantra is supporting he who knows brahman which is defined as reality knowledge and infinity and it is hidden in the cave of the heart and in the highest akasha he being one with the omniscient brahman enjoys simultaneously all desires so first of all there is what is called the benefit the karma phala what happens when we know brahman he who knows brahman attains the supreme that means he attains everything that means there is nothing more to be attained it means i don't need to take any more birth because taking a birth means i have unfulfilled desires i have attained something but again it one fulfillment of desire produces a million seeds further desires just like one tree comes out of from one seed but once the tree grows that one seed grows into a big tree then how many seeds is it going to produce that is the lesson we have to learn from rakta bija the demon called rakta bija a story which we get in the third part of the story called the killing of shumbha and nishumbha so here bija means seed so one drop of this asuras demons blood if it falls on the ground that is if this person is hit injured then another person equivalent to that immediately it comes nobody is going to die by the shedding of one drop of blood but here is a peculiar fellow he must have got a bone so if you won't hurt him and he's glad to be hurt by you i guess so so that he stands you beat me here is a tender part of my body so then you're wondering good opportunity good man and you strike him there and a hundred drops of blood fall and hundred people will come already one you are unable to conquer him now hundred also joined him 101 and then what is the beauty any one of them they just now produced 100 demons you shed one drop of their blood if it happens to fall on the ground then again another asura adds to that so what is the symbolism of this one that is fulfill one desire and then that becomes a big and it produces hundreds of other desires i can go on and on so therefore when a person he attains brahman all his desires for eternity are obtained because brahman is everything other than brahman there is no other object when a person attains god he attains everything and so once a person attains what does he become he becomes brahman himself brahmavid apnoti param so a person becomes brahman himself who brahmavid a person who knows brahman param apnoti param means the supreme most the highest which is none other than brahman and in support of this statement your doubts may come what is the way i should believe you so here this supports it what is it so he who knows brahman which is satyam reality knowledge manam anantham infinity and where is he if you recollect chandogya upanishad he started the eighth chapter beginning itself it is exactly the same thing is being told here so if anybody realizes one's own divinity because he is hidden inside that yama akasha where deeply hidden there then what happens such a person becomes brahmavid brahma environment becomes brahman and then where is this brahman is one's own nature but it is forgotten that is presented here as in one's own heart in that heart there is an akasha and this heart resembles a beautiful lotus and that akasha is what is called brahman and that is to say each soul is potentially divine and once a person knows i am brahman what happens so sarvan kaman every possible desire enjoys enjoys along with brahman because i am brahman whatever brahman enjoys enjoys i also enjoy it so such a person he he is the greatest knower and this this is the sutra vakya sutra means very briefly said for this shankaracharya gives elaborated bhashyam especially what is our idea of satyam jnanam and anantham are these three separate are the qualities are the three separate qualities are they related to each other or they are supporting of each other are the really qualities of brahman of course no they are defining characteristics of brahman not qualities of brahman so you mean to say the qualities are different and defining characteristics are different yes that is what shankara clarifies brilliantly which we will talk in our next class moho moho may ramakrishna holy mother and swami vekananda bless us all with bhakti jai ramakrishna